Darryl Strawberry to speak at Springfield Sports Hall of Fame banquet March 24

Former All-Star Darryl Strawberry will be the featured speaker at the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

The 24th annual banquet will be March 24 at the Crowne Plaza. Tickets, priced at $40, can be reserved by calling Lesa Schaive at 529-0008.

The names of the 2014 inductees, Friends of Sport and the Hall of Fame team will be announced in next Sundayís edition of The State Journal-Register.

Strawberry spent 17 seasons in the major leagues with the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees from 1983-99. He finished with 335 career home runs, 1,000 runs batted in and a .259 batting average.

He was the first player taken in the 1980 First-Year Amateur Draft and made his big league debut on May 6, 1983. He batted .257 with 26 home runs, seven triples and 74 RBIs, earning Rookie of the Year honors in the National League.

Strawberry made the first of his eight All-Star Game appearances in 1984. He played on four World Series championship teams, was a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, won the 1986 All-Star Game Home Run Derby, was the 1988 National League home run champion and joined baseballís exclusive 30-30 club in 1987 when he hit 39 home runs and stole 36 bases. He finished second in NL Most Valuable Player voting to Kirk Gibson of the Dodgers in 1988.

He finished second in the MVP voting again in 1990, when he hit 37 homers and drove in 108 runs, and in November of 1990 he signed a five-year, $22.25 million free agent contract with his hometown Dodgers.

Strawberry hit 28 home runs and drove in 99 runs his first year in Los Angeles, but injuries and personal problems limited him to just 10 home runs combined in the next two seasons.

He was suspended from baseball at the beginning of the 1995 season due to his involvement with cocaine, but he played for the Yankees at the end of the season. After a stint in the Northern League at the start of the 1996 season, Strawberry again signed with the Yankees on July 4, 1996. He helped New York to World Series titles in 1996, 1998 and 1999, and he played his final game for the Yankees in 1999.

After battles with cancer and drug addiction, Strawberry became a born-again Christian and now is a minister in the St. Louis area with his wife, Tracy.